It’s done. It’s done. No going back.
The rage built. It beat in tandem with the violence of her feedback headache. She needed to ground, but she couldn’t trust the agents were truly gone. Instead, she knitted.
What about Danny? If they’d made the appointment through him, would they arrest him now? Had another Gracey man been put in danger because of her? The memory of the night the men had come to tell her mother that her father’s body had been found, and the devastated, blaming eyes of her sister, rose up like dark water. She fled from it, as she always did, blinking away from her thoughts before the memory could suck her back down into the drowning depths of grief.
Her head jerked up. The light inside the little house had dimmed with evening, and Gloria entered through the front, a basket of eggs in one hand and an earthen jug in the other. She caught Lena’s attention.
“Light the lamp,” she said. “My hands are full of your dinner. Then we’ll talk.”
At home, Lena would simply spark it, but she couldn’t spark anything until she’d grounded. She rose to use tongs to pull an ember from the little round-bellied stove and lit the wick of the fat lamp on the table in the middle of the room. When she was done, she returned the ember to the stove.
“Put water on to boil. And heat the comal,” Gloria told her, referring to the large flat frying pan. She dipped out blue cornmeal and mesquite flour and mixed it in a chipped bowl. While she dropped spoonfuls of batter onto the hot comal and used her strong fingers to break apart pinon nuts and scatter them over the cakes, Lena set the table.
In moments, Gloria had flipped the pancakes onto the waiting plates and they were sitting together, a covered bowl of honey on the table between them. The crunch of the bits of toasted pine nuts and the distinctive tangy sweet flavor of the mesquite flour improved Lena’s mood.
Of course, her bliss might be related to her terrible sweet tooth. She pinched the last bite of the delicious cakes between her fingers, swirled it in honey, and shoved it into her mouth. She licked her fingers.
Plenty of mesquite flour and honey in storage up at the house. I should barter for more baking powder and cornmeal.
The realization that she didn’t have plenty of anything anymore hit like a slap in the face. How could she plan her cooking? It wasn’t even safe to return home. The delicious dinner settled like a hard ball in her stomach.
Gloria spoke to her in English now, the words coming in the odd, jerking cadence of a native speaker of Keresan. “It is hard to think of making a choice now, but you have to decide whether you are staying or going.”
Lena swallowed. “Am I allowed to stay here?”
Gloria made a small shrug. “It’s not for me to decide. Before you ask, you should think about what you ask of us.”
Lena stared at her. “I’m a hard worker. I would never be a burden, and I can help—”
Gloria shook her head. “It isn’t food and shelter that will cost us. It will be defending our friend from those who return for her.”
Lena’s shoulders slumped again, and her gaze returned to her empty plate with the bits of cake and nuts sticking in honey.
“They will return for you, Lena. You shine as bright as the Sun, and they want your light. They would do anything to possess it. They will come.”
Lena jumped at the faint knock at Gloria’s door. At a Keresan word from Gloria, a boy of about twelve entered from the deep of night. Lena recognized the Keresan words for one man, “ishk hachtzeh.” Reyes? Back again already? Was she already bringing unwanted guests to the Kewa? Gloria and the boy spoke for a moment before she turned to Lena.
“There is a man who says he is a friend come to warn you of danger. He says it’s important that he speak with you.”
Lena waited. One didn’t just get up and go when Gloria was speaking. Gloria held her gaze for a moment. When the woman spoke again, she spoke quietly, like always.
“You have to make a decision soon.”
“I know,” she said. “And I know I should go away somewhere. But this is my home. It’s all I know.”
“Fear of the unknown is a reason to go, not stay.” Gloria’s voice had taken on a chiding tone. “If you stay, it should be because you love a place, not because you’re afraid to move on.” She slid her hand along the tabletop. “If you’re going to stay because you’re afraid, then you might as well go live with them in their city. Everyone there stays because they are afraid.”
“I won’t go back to the city. Life isn’t worth living under their rules. I’d rather die.”
“So. You would die for freedom. What would you live for?”
Lena stared at Gloria. She could feel her brow furrowing. “I don’t—for the same thing?”
“No. You said you would die to be free. If you are given a choice, if you must choose between freedom in death and the life they offer, what would make you choose to live? Figure that out, and you will know what is really at stake. You will know why you must return.”
Lena’s brows rose almost to her hairline. She wouldn’t return to the city. She opened her mouth to say so, but it was too late. Gloria pursed her lips in the direction of the door.
She rose to her feet as Gloria nodded at the boy. Lena followed him out, giving herself a moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the dark. The boy waited for her in the middle of the narrow road. When she moved forward, he trotted off into the night. She quickened her steps to keep up, arms going around her own body to ward against the cold. When they turned onto the Pueblo’s main road, she could see the twin beams of a car’s lights, the silhouettes of armed Kewa warriors to either side. She shook her head at the waste of energy.
It wasn’t the Volt. Not Reyes. She hissed silently at the quick flit of disappointment through her belly before the man behind the wheel leaned out.
“Ace!” She sped up, jogging the final distance to the car. He unfolded himself from the front seat, relief spreading across his face with his smile.
“Lena!” He bent down to pull her up into his arms and shake her like a rag doll. “Damn, girlie, you’re going to be the death of me.”
She laughed as she pulled away. The laughter faded at the worry on his face. “What are you doing all the way out here? And at this hour? Do you want agents knocking on your door?”
He cocked a brow at her and rubbed a hand across his bald head. “I’ve already got agents dropping my name. Yours, too.”
Her eyes closed. She shook her head. “Ace, I’m sorry. I never meant to bring trouble on anyone—”
“You didn’t bring any trouble on me. And even if you had—” he flicked the tip of her nose and then pulled her back in for another hug “—you know you’re worth every minute.”
She wrapped her arms tight around his waist and leaned her head into his lower chest. She regretted, not for the first time, that she and Ace could never be together. She wasn’t the correct gender. Other than her father’s, his were the only arms she’d ever felt safe in. Now the Council had found Ace, too.
“What happened? They didn’t bother you at work, did they?” She tipped her head back to look up at him. He worked for Wallace & Aceves Imports, also known as the Dragonfly House, one of the most powerful trade groups. They had their fingers in all nine Council Zones. They were powerful. They were also paranoid.
“No.” He shook his head and wrinkled his forehead. “He found me at the Piece of Asp.”
“He?” She knew who before Ace even answered.
“Uh huh. Beautiful, dangerous man. Likes expensive tequila. And pain-in-the-ass redheads. You know him?”
“Reyes.” Lena rolled her eyes. “He does not like me, I promise. He came out here to arrest me.”
Ace reached out to gently grasp her chin and pull her face up. He examined her with a familiar, searching look. “Oh, hell no. Lena. No. Not that man.”
She pulled her chin away and scoffed at him. “What? Whatever you think you’re seeing…no. I don’t want him.” She crossed her arms over her
chest and hugged herself against the dropping temperature. “He’s an agent. He works for the Council.”
“Screw being an agent. And screw the Council, too. The man is dangerous. You think you’re tough, playing with little boys. This is not the kind of man who plays games. He will eat your soul and make you like it.”
“Well, if I’ll like it, then what’s the problem?” She tossed the words back lightly.
“Lena.”
“He’s an asshole. Whatever you think you’re seeing, you’re not. I promise. And by the way, I am tough. I kicked his dangerous ass today, thank you very much! So don’t be underestimating me.” She scowled up at him. “And don’t go thinking he’s interested in anything but my kilowatt per hour output. The only thing I am to Reyes is a check on his monthly quota.”
“Yeah? Then why did he tell me to warn you that they’re not interested in hooking you up to a power plant? That you need to come in to him so he can get you someplace safe and keep you away from the Council?”
“I—what?” She stared at him.
“Yeah. He said you had their attention now. They’re going to ship you away and do Dust knows what to you. Don’t look at me like that!”
“Ace, he was playing you. It’s what they do. He’s just better at it than the rest of them.”
He leaned down and gripped her slight shoulders. “He wasn’t playing. He was pissed. And worried. He said he wasn’t sure he could get you someplace safe now, and the sooner you get back, the safer you’ll be.” He released her shoulders, but he kept his hands on her arms. “He knows you’re different. They do, too. The secret’s out. Agent or not, this guy wants to take you someplace safe. Maybe you can have a real life, one where you’re not hiding who you are. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.”
She stared up at him, fear beating inside her chest. No one was allowed to know what she could do. That was the rule. It had been the rule for as long as she could remember. “You don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand? You’re funny, little girl. I am the one person in this world who definitely understands.” He gestured at the car next to them. “I dropped everything and came out here to get you because I understand.” He smiled at her. “Jimmy’s pissed, too. He thinks I left to go meet up with your agent somewhere.”
A quick bark of laughter erupted from her. “What? He’s not even your type!”
Ace raised his brow again. “That man is everybody’s type.”
“Shut up.” She rubbed her arms and tilted her head back to stare up at the stars. Their brilliance took her breath away but gave her nothing in return. She had to find her own answers. “I don’t buy it, Ace.”
“You don’t think he’s everybody’s type? You going blind out here with the sun in your eyes?”
“No, and you know what I mean. I don’t buy this concern. There’s some magical safe place? I don’t buy it.” She tucked her hair back behind her ears, smoothing it down as she bit her lip. “I don’t buy it,” she repeated.
“Are you trying to convince me or you? Come back with me. I didn’t drive all the way out here for nothing. Guy like him gets worried, you pay attention.”
“I just—you didn’t see him when he came in today. He was totally convincing as a bored rich boy. And then as the good-citizen agent trying to talk me down. I don’t buy that he’s scared of the Council or something. I think it’s a trap.” It didn’t matter how beautiful the man was. She’d seen him be two different people already. How could she trust this new double agent role he’d sold to Ace?
Lies. He told them—became them—very well. He’s an agent, for Dust’s sake.
She gave voice to the fear simmering inside since she realized she’d somehow brought attention to Ace. “I go back with you, and then they take us both, me for the power plants and you to the work farms for helping me. I can’t be the reason you—” She swallowed the heat back and blinked away welling tears.
“I don’t think it’s a trap.” He lifted his hand to gently brush away from her face the hair the wind fluttered. “It’s hard to play a player. I looked into his eyes. He’s spooked for you. That’s not a lie. It was real.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I love that you came out here to get me. But I can’t come back with you. I won’t put you at risk.”
“You have to trust somebody sometime, girlie.”
“Maybe. But not Reyes.”
They stood in silence then. He pulled her back for a long hug, and she leaned in, loving his warmth and the spicy male scent clinging to him. They’d been friends since before her parents had made her disappear, each hiding a secret from the world. Ace had come to terms with who he was long ago, and screw anyone who had an issue with him. But he still always made time for Lena and her struggle to exist. Her brother helped her out of a sense of duty. Danny loved her, but putting himself on the line? That he did for the memory of their father. Ace had no reason to drive out to the middle of nowhere to get her except that Ace had chosen her. And she’d be damned if she put him in danger, too.
Except Reyes had shown up at their favorite club to find him. They’d somehow made the connection. Ace was already in danger.
How long until he isn’t the only one?
She pulled away, staring up at him, stricken. “They found you already.”
Ace shook his head. “I can handle me.”
Her breath creaked out of her throat. “How long until they find my family? I thought if I ran away, everyone would be safe. But if they found you, they already know who I am. No one is safe.” Her hands tightened into fists. “They’ll go after my mother!”
It was her father all over again. He had tried to protect her, keep her hidden. After she’d messed up the first week of school, they’d never sent her back. They’d told everyone she had a terrible fever. A week later, she had officially died. It wasn’t a difficult lie. Disease was a constant danger; even hardy Spark children sometimes died. Lena had ceased to exist. Her father used his position to make it happen.
When the Councilor had discovered her father had secrets, had been hiding things, they’d taken him. Whatever they suspected he was doing, they’d never been able to discover what he’d really been up to. He took her existence with him to the grave.
The night they came to tell her mother, Lena had been helping Danny work on a circuit breaker for school. With the knock at the door, she’d hopped up and hustled to her hiding hole behind a loose board in the closet. She’d risked slipping back out into the closet and peeking through the crack, though, when she’d heard her mother begin to wail. Lena stood in the dark, alone, and watched as her family grieved. Danny sat in shock, one hand poised over the electric panel, head bowed. Teresa went to their mother and wrapped her arms around her. Over their mother’s shoulder, she’d stared with venomous hate at the closet where Lena hid. Teresa blamed her and had never made a secret of it. Lena had cost them their father.
Would she cost them their lives, now, too?
Ace shook his head. “I’ll protect Mercedes. I work for Dragonfly House. You go find somewhere safe to live, and I’ll get her to another zone—“
“But Teresa would never leave. My mother couldn’t leave Joseph behind.” After all of the loss in their lives, the birth of Lena’s nephew had brought joy back to her mother’s life. She shook her head. “I have to go back. I have to convince them. I can’t lose my mom.”
“Are you going to talk to Reyes, then? See if he can protect you all?”
Back to Reyes again.
She grimaced. “I don’t know. But I have to go somewhere. And I have to protect my family. I’m going to have to go back and figure it out.”
She looked down at her hands, fisted on the sides of his shirt, and then back up at him. “Except…it’s kind of a long walk. Can I have a ride?”
Ace nodded, face grave. “Yes. But you’re a wanted woman. You don’t mind riding in the trunk, do you?”
She blinked.
A broad smile spread
across Ace’s face.
Lena rolled her eyes. “This is serious, Ace. You’re such a jerk.”
He chuckled.
“Seriously.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Before they could leave, Lena had to ground. Whether agents still lurked out there or not, putting it off would be dangerous. She couldn’t go into the city glowing this bright. She tried to get Ace to stay behind, just in case, but he would have none of it. He’d go with her into the desert, or she’d take her chances going back without grounding.
The desert undulated before her, lit by bright starlight and the half-moon above. Rocky outcroppings and twisted juniper trees scattered across the low hills threw pale shadows across the sand. She avoided them and her home, leading Ace toward the wide strip of broken asphalt that had been the big road to Albuquerque. The road was cracked and lifted in chunks, melted black ribbons crumbling. The road led nowhere now. The people who had been the heart of Albuquerque were long gone, and past it was Native Nations desert territory and the Hell City that had been El Paso.
She preferred to ground near the road to nowhere. It was already broken and glassy in places, so she wouldn’t disturb the desert. But she couldn’t risk hiking four miles from the Pueblo tonight. The pride of lions roaming the Zone Three desert hunted at night. So did wolves. In her current condition, she couldn’t defend herself and Ace, and she had no desire to find more trouble.
You’ve already got enough trouble, Lena.
Her lips quirked, although it was pain not mirth behind the smile. She had cataloged the four-legged threats to their safety when the real danger to her life came in the two-legged variety.
She reached a long rise jutting out over a shallow indentation in the land, not quite an arroyo. It was clear of brush and junipers. It would do. She hopped down from the rise and quickly removed her clothes. Her hands, shaking now from cold, flipped and creased the fabric in sharp motions before handing it off to Ace and reminding him to stand back. He’d seen her ground before. He planted a quick kiss on the top of her head and moved well away. He couldn’t help her with this anyway.
Wicked Legends: A Dystopian Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection Page 130